Twelve Months: Happy Birthday, Henry!

This is the last month of your monthly letters and photographs. After this, we are moving to a yearly schedule. You are growing so fast!

What has this month brought to us?

One of your favorite activities is reading. You love to flip through your board books and make low, gurgling noises as you “read.” You also hand us the books over and over to read them to you. You also read a lot when you’re sitting on the toilet. It’s adorable and melts my heart every time.

You love pulling on fan cords (our new house has a lot of fans). If we ask you where the fan is, you point to it. You are learning to point to things like “mama” and “dad” and “Hoss,” although you still aren’t trying to verbalize any of those words. You now give kisses on command (big, open-mouth kisses), which is pretty much the sweetest thing ever.

Strangers still refer to you as a “happy baby,” and you enjoy going to new places. We’ve been touring schools, and you love to get down and crawl all around in the new spaces. Even though you aren’t walking, you are very comfortable climbing. At one of the schools, you climbed into a chair, grabbed a book, and started reading.

You’ve started laughing when the people around you are laughing (which, of course, makes us laugh more). You also love to put things around your neck, especially Hoss’s dog collar and leash. Hoss is still pretty much your favorite thing ever. You love to pet him and rub your head up against him.

We still go to the park nearly every day, and you love to watch the other kids. You continue to love the slide and the swings.

Our lives are about to change a lot. You start school at the beginning of March. You are so ready! You love being around other kids and exploring new environments. Your dad will take you in the morning, and I’ll pick you up in the middle of the day. I imagine you’ll want to take a long nap, and then we’ll have time together in the late afternoon to go to the park, cook dinner, give you a bath, and read some books before bed.

You definitely make us work hard, dear Henry, but you pay us for that work by being a sweet, sweet boy. Most nights after you go to bed, your dad and I continue to talk about how sweet you are. We reminisce about things you did that day and all the ways you made us smile.

Thank you for making us smile.

——————
Today on 2000 Dollar Wedding: Read the behind-the-scenes of Henry’s first birthday party.